


Cobb Picks Up the Pieces

by eternalsojourn



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-31
Updated: 2011-10-31
Packaged: 2017-10-25 14:18:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/271220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternalsojourn/pseuds/eternalsojourn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-Inception, Cobb returns home and realizes the gravity of consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cobb Picks Up the Pieces

**Author's Note:**

> For [metacheese's Pan-Fandom Friendship Fanworks Fest](http://metacheese.livejournal.com/20762.html).

It was a plane that did it.

Cobb stepped outside to gather the various toys that had been abandoned randomly throughout the yard, the forgotten detritus of lives lived in a hurry to get to the next thing, shiny, just out of reach.

It was as he stood, plastic shovel in hand that a soft noise drew his eyes upwards to a plane far above, drifting slowly across the sky.

It was only then, some six weeks after his return home that it struck him how close they all had come to being lost down there. How easily the plane could have landed with all of them slumped, no amount of face tapping or shaking enough to rouse them from their minds.

The shovel slipped from his fingers, and Cobb shakily made his way to the lawn chair and dropped into it, stunned.

***

“The person you are calling is not available...” Cobb hesitated a second, then hung up. He dialled again, jaw clenched, glaring down at his kitchen counter.

“This better be good,” Arthur said. “I’m in the middle of something.”

“Hi, Arthur,” Cobb began. At Arthur’s silence he added, “I thought we’d talk, but if you’re busy, then meet me for coffee. Come see the kids.”

“I’m in Dar es Salaam,” Arthur replied in that clipped way of his. The one that says, _get to the point, damnit._

“Ah,” Cobb said, collecting his thoughts. He knew Arthur hated waiting, but he also knew Arthur would want to find out what Cobb was calling for. “Okay. Listen. I just wanted to say thanks. For helping me get back to my kids. You know.”

There was a muffled voice in the background, and Arthur covered the mouthpiece but Cobb still heard, “Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute”. Then, “Look, I’m glad you got home.” There was silence for a minute before Arthur added, “I know it must be hard there. Without Mal.

Cobb flickered a frown. “...yeah. The kids and I are muddling through, though. I was serious about you coming to see them. They asked about you.”

“Well, we’re here for another two weeks. We could come out to visit after that, I guess,” Arthur said, measured.

“We?”

“Eames,” Arthur replied, faint hint of a smile in his voice.

Cobb paused, startled. He wondered how he missed it, if there was anything to miss.

“Oh. How long...?”

“After that,” Arthur said, and Cobb spared a moment to be grateful Arthur knew him so well.

“Oh, well, congratulations,” Cobb offered awkwardly. “...we okay?”

“Yeah,” Arthur replied. “Yeah, we’re okay. I’ll call you, all right?”

Afterwards, Cobb busied himself making coffee. The sense of loss that gripped him when Arthur mentioned Mal was spilling over. He’d have to start working legally again at some point, but what of the people who believed he was guilty? He didn’t know if he could return to his old circles. His friends — the ones who’d known both he and Mal — he’d spoken to none of them since his return. And dreamshare — the only dreamshare community that would accept him now was illegal, which was out of the question: he had his kids to think about.

Cobb stirred sugar into his coffee and tossed the spoon into the sink with a clang.

And Arthur. He’d almost alienated the one person who stuck with him through legal and illegal work, who’d crossed the boundary from colleague to friend, who’d eaten at his home, had ruffled his kids’ hair.

Cobb looked around his kitchen, listened to the tv’s bouncing, cartoon noises from the living room. He didn’t regret what he did.

 _Yeah. We’re okay._

Something loosened in Cobb’s chest. He picked up his coffee and wandered to the linen closet, washing fresh sheets for the spare room.

**End**


End file.
